first and foremost find your friends find the sanctuaries in other people’s ribs count heartbeats and breaths and breathe don’t speak hand to your diaphragm easy now easy gently please with those delicate wings tiny butterfly feathers caught in dewdrops on tulips and forget-me-nots swallow them down feel the weight on your tongue let them crack your teeth and eat shards of bone washed down with blood wine
stop beating yourself up
stop hiding inside other people’s palaces prisons pieces hearts
beat your own heart not somebody else’s